Atlanta Macintosh Users Group

Fellow AMUGers,

I work from home and my employer has told me to get a webcam because we are going to begin having weekly staff meetings via video conference.

My old eMac would love an iSight, but they were discontinued in December. I thought they only sold for about $150, but they are quite pricey on eBay and Amazon.

Humble questions:

1) Does anyone know where to get a good deal on an iSight?

2) Can anyone recommend another webcam? My boss suggested a Logitec QuickCam Fusion.

Thanks for any thoughts, wisdom, or uncontrolled ramblings on this topic. Due to work conflicts I have missed the last three meetings, but plan to be back with my AMUG family this month.

May the evil spirits of Vista never haunt you, nor make you laugh hysterically.

Todd

What camera you use shouldn't matter. What's more important is what video conference software you're going to need to use.

Here is my 2 cents...

1.  iSight just works and it works well, so it is worth the price (also, a firewire hooked up to a Camcorder works just as well).
2.  A usb cam will work on a mac, but it is not so simple. 
        a.  You need to get a driver here (http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/)
        b.  You need to purchase this application to get it to work with iChat (http://www.ecamm.com/mac/ichatusbcam/)

iChat works great with other iChat clients.  iChat is a little buggy with AOL IM (it is not officially supported), and you will spend a lot of time troubleshooting the aol side of things.  Skype to Skype video chat works as well as iChat to iChat.  The nice thing about using Skype is that you can go Mac to PC with no issues. 

If you are planning on using an eMac, it will probably work fine, but you may get some lag.  I found that Skype video chat pushes my 1GHz Powerbook processor to about 80% to 90%.  iChat seems to run at about 70%.

Good luck.  It can be difficult.  I have been gradually setting up my entire family (mac and pcs) with video chat, thus I unfortunately have more experience in the matter than I want to admit. 

Thanks, Robert:

This is helpful information and reinforces what I've been researching the past two days. Unfortunately, iSights have skyrocketed in price since they were discontinued in December. It's hard to justify buying one when my PC co-workers are buying webcams for $70 - $100 and I am wanting an iSight that now ranges from $250 - $600 (even used and refurbished units are sky high).

Is there a webcam of choice for Mac users? The open source universal driver you refer to does not support all webcams.

Thanks again,

Todd

Wow, I did not know the secondary market for iSight cameras was so strong. 

I use a $50 logitech usb webcam.  It works fine with the above drivers/add ons.  I get a better picture when I use my Sony Video Camera with a firewire.

I do not think there is a webcam of choice other than the iSight for mac users.  I would use the compatability list as a guide.  Most of the usb web cams only come with Windows drivers and do not support OS X. 

Again, your responses are right on target with a little poll I took yesterday both on forums and with a few vendors. The best options are the Sony Mini Camcorder or Logitec. However, I am opting to go with the Ice Mac, which is one of the few Mac-friendly third-party webcams on the market. It is $40. I will let everyone know how it goes.

Now, any recommendations for headphones?

Thanks!

Todd

Plantronics has a headset that is USB, has a DSP in it (built in soundcard), mute and volume buttons on the lanyard.  There's actually 2 models, one is more "gamer" like and looks like a radio DJ headset (large but very comfortable earmuffs) and the other model has a collapsible / foldable headset and travels better.

Check on Amazon / ebay for these .. I forget the model numbers.

I have 2 of the foldable sets that I got from Amazon and I use it with both the PC and the Mac .. wonderful to listen to podcasts / itunes to as well as being compliant with Skype, Gizmo, etc..

Mac regognizes it right off the bat, no drivers needed.

Mike